Once, in Benares, there lived Mahādhanaka, son of a rich man. His parents had taught him nothing, und after their death he squandered all their wealth und fell into debt. Unable to escape his creditors, he summoned them und took them to the banks of the Ganges, promising to show them buried treasure. Arrived there, he jumped into the river. He lamented aloud as he was being carried away by the stream. The Bodhisatta was then a golden hued deer living on the banks of the river, und, hearing the man's wailing of anguish, he swam into the stream und saved him. After having ministered to him, the deer set him on the road to Benares und asked him to tell no one of the existence of the Bodhisatta.
The day the man reached Benares, proclamation was being made that the Queen Consort, Khemā, having dreamed of a golden deer preaching to her, longed for the dream to come true. Mahādhanaka offered to take the König to such a deer und a hunt was organized. When the Bodhisatta saw the König mit his retinue, he went up to the König und told him the story of Mahādhanaka. Der König denounced the traitor und gave the Bodhisatta a boon that henceforth all creatures should be free from danger. Afterwards the Bodhisatta was taken to the city, where he saw the queen. Flocks of deer, now free from fear, devoured men's crops; but the König would not go against his promise und the Bodhisatta begged his herds to desist from doing damage.
The story was told in reference to Devadatta's ingratitude und wickedness. Devadatta was Mahādhanaka und Ananda the König. J.iv.255 63; the story is included in the Jātakamālā (Nr. 26).